Turn on the klieg lights and cue up the glitz. Just because you're not sashaying down a red carpet at the 85th Academy Awards this Sunday doesn't mean you can't enjoy a little glamour at home.

Whether you prefer a tiger-striped cocktail to accompany your "Life of Pi" cheers or a bold, "Argo"-inspired Diplomatic Escape -- with a twist, of course -- we've got you covered with a cocktail menu that pays homage to the best picture nominees.

You'll find eight sips -- some of which are apt for multiple films -- and two noshes on Pages 2 and 4.

Oscar-inspired cocktails are a tradition at San Francisco's Foreign Cinema, where mixologist Bryan Ranere has created everything from "True Grit" lowballs to inky "Black Swan" martinis. Here, he pays homage to the silver lining in this wildly eccentric nominee with a Don Julio Silver tequila-based cocktail. Ranere gives a nod to the Philadelphia Eagles -- the objects of Robert De Niro's passionate "Go green!" obsession in the film -- via a green chartreuse float, lime and mint. (Psst, for total authenticity, serve it with crab-topped anything, and tell your guests the appetizers are "crabbies and homemades.")

'Zero Dark Thirty'

Advertisement

For Kathryn Bigelow's intense retelling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Ranere suggests a riff on the classic Dark and Stormy cocktail, which typically uses dark rum, lime and ginger beer. Here, Gosling's black rum increases the midnight hue, and a diet Coca-Cola variation on the soda theme adds the signature Zero.

'Lincoln'

Jim Hewes, who runs the bar at the historic Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., carved out an unusual niche for himself when he first began mixing cocktails for Presidents Day.

Now that menu includes 44 libations, some of which may not technically have been the POTUS drink of choice, but are at least period-specific. "Lincoln" buffs get an easy way out here, because our 16th president enjoyed a reputation as a teetotaler. He may have enjoyed a dram or two of corn whiskey in his youth, but fresh apple cider is Hewes' choice for the perfect Lincoln libation.

'Life of Pi'

Walnut Creek Yacht Club owners Ellen McCarty and Kevin Weinberg were swept away by "Life of Pi," the tale of a young Indian boy and a Bengal tiger lost at sea in a very small boat. Pour your Oscar-watching guests a tiger-striped Richard Parker, McCarty suggests, a frothy Bombay gin cocktail.

"Lemon grass brings in an Indian flavor, along with the yellow chartreuse, which gives it a little punch -- tiger's blood, so to speak, a la Charlie Sheen," she says. "The frothy white top of the cocktail and the salted rim remind you of the ocean they floated on for 227 days."

Then let their playful appetizer tell the story on a plate: An avocado "boat" carries a tiger prawn and a mahi mahi crudo -- a nod to the raw fish that kept Pi and the tiger alive on the open sea -- across a sea of arugula and lemon aioli.

'Django Unchained'

It's irksome to catch an anachronism in a period film, but this particular error -- Leonardo DiCaprio ordering a Pearl cocktail in 1859 -- is one few history mavens would have spotted. Cocktails didn't have names before 1862, says Stew Ellington, the Oakland author of "901 Very Good Cocktails" (Felix Press, $25, 240 pages).

"If you really want something 1860's-ish, an Old Fashioned is your best bet," Ellington says. "It wasn't actually called an Old Fashioned until close to the end of the 1800s. It's the original cocktail and still one of the very best cocktails in existence. I'll take one every time."

It's a favorite with Comstock Saloon executive chef Carlo Espinas, too. The Fremont native has been doing toasts -- a riff on the bruschetta theme -- to coordinate with the cocktails served at San Francisco's Barbary Coast-esque saloon. Pair that Old Fashioned, he says, with a hearty, rustic appetizer, such as a crimini-mushroom and broccoli-topped toast.

'Les Miz' and 'Amour'

More a fan of French epics or bittersweet stories of long-ago love? Manny Hinojosa, Bacardi USA's award-winning mixologist and former bar manager at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club, offers up a Les Miz-inspired Sparkling Cocktail that combines the fizz of prosecco with the depth of creme de cassis and a pear-infused vodka. It's an elegant cocktail, he says, "with hits of chocolate, pear and vanilla flavors to enjoy with this great film and epic novel."

It's also the perfect sip to pair with "Amour," the deeply poignant tale of two long-married French music teachers at the end of life.

'Argo'

One of Hinojosa's favorite films this Oscar season was Ben Affleck's thrilling film about the Iran hostage crisis, so he designed The Diplomatic Escape with the Canadian ambassador in mind. The drink is a blend of Dewar's 12-year-old Scotch whisky, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, Campari, lemon, basil and ginger ale.

It's a twist, the Brentwood resident says, "on the classic Americano cocktail, one of the most popular cocktails in Canada. Ben Affleck, playing the role of CIA agent Tony Mendez, drinks scotch in a couple scenes from the movie. I got inspired by that, and I wanted to give great credit and recognition to the Canadian ambassador and government by using those ingredients."

'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

This evocative post-Katrina fairy tale tells the tale of Hushpuppy -- played by then-6-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, now nominated for an Oscar -- in Louisiana's brackish, steamy wetlands in an area known as The Bathtub. It's a story of survival, imagination and myth, and it deserves a libation that captures its spirit, says Sam Babalola, the bar manager of Picán, a Southern restaurant in Oakland's Uptown.

For his Green Lantern cocktail, Babalola mixes a "youthful whiskey ... with a hip, flavorful assortment of ingredients like coconut cream, lime juice and green chartreuse."